My Boys
by XiaoFeng
Summary: Looking over Luffy's new bounty after Alabasta, Makino comes across something - or someone - she never thought she would see again. She stops to remember, and at the end of the day, realizes she's proud of her boys. Just a little ficlet.


**Disclaimer: If I owned One Piece, it wouldn't be as awesome as it is now. I bow to Eiichiro Oda-sama.**

**

* * *

**

When Luffy's bounty first came out, Makino couldn't be more proud of the little boy who was practically her son. Yes, he was a pirate, but so what? That boy didn't have a single evil bone in his body. He was living the life the way he wanted, and living it to the fullest. Who cared if the whole world thought he was some heartless pirate (if that was even possible considering that goofy grin that Luffy was wearing on his bounty poster) as long as Luffy himself was happy?

The rest of Fuchsia Village took the opportunity to start celebrating as well, despite the Mayor's protests and disapproving huffs. After all, it wasn't often when someone from their village ended up in the newspapers. Monkey D. Luffy was now officially the town celebrity, along with his brother Ace, and the most wanted pirate in the East Blue.

It was only a few months later when the new bounty posters appeared, following the arrest of one of the Shichibukai in some desert kingdom called Alabasta. As before, Makino smiled proudly at the new bounty and Luffy's happy, goofy face. She didn't know what he did to earn that bounty, but it was proof that he was having a good time and well on his way to becoming the Pirate King.

But when she turned to the other bounty, her heart skipped a beat at the sight of the other boy who was reportedly Luffy's first mate. 'Pirate Hunter' Roronoa Zoro.

He looked so much like _him_ that it brought a wave of memories back to Makino. Despite not having seen him since shortly after his birth, she recognized him at once. He was his father's spitting image, but that green hair had probably come from her side of the family.

For a moment, while gazing at the picture of the fierce-looking young man, Makino found herself in a time when she was twenty years younger and happily in love with her childhood sweetheart.

He had been strong and stern, with a firm resolve and a steely determination. Yet at the same time, he was warm and caring, and really just a big softy. Oh, she had loved him so much.

They had gotten married, despite his parents' protests. They didn't think that she, a poor orphan girl, was good enough for their son, but as always, he had stood against their objections with the same inner strength that she had loved so much. Together, they opened a small bar that they ran together. They didn't earn much, but it was enough to get by.

Their lives seemed to be complete when she told him that she was pregnant. They had been so happy, and even his parents seemed to soften a bit at the news. Surely this meant things would only get better.

But then disaster struck. Pirates raided the village and he died defending it. The whole family was grief-stricken, and Makino had barely held on for the sake of her child.

Yet, shortly after he was born, her little green-haired baby was neatly plucked out of her arms by his grandparents, who then bluntly told her that they didn't want to have anything more to do with her. She was a jinx, because _he_ wouldn't have died if he hadn't married her - because marrying her had brought him nothing but bad luck. They were going to raise _his_ child, not hers, because she would bring bad luck on him as well.

They left within the hour, setting sail on a ship and never looking back, leaving no clue to where they were going.

They never even gave her the chance to name her baby boy.

In fact, all they left her was the small bar that she had run together with her husband. As if that could make up for the pain of losing both her husband and son. Makino had never felt so bitter in her life, and she thrashed a good portion of the place before the Mayor brought her back to her senses. This bar had been their dream, hers and her husband's, and she couldn't let it fall into disrepair.

She started up the bar again, but the days seemed almost mechanical to her. She was simply going through the motions, with the Mayor dropping in to inquire about her every now and then.

At least, that was until Luffy and Ace came to Fuchsia Village.

Luffy was still a baby then, but Ace was already showing all the signs of being a wonderful big brother - if a little haphazard due to his narcolepsy problem. The Mayor had said that their grandfather was a friend of his, and wanted the Mayor to watch them for him. In turn, the Mayor had asked Makino to take them in and feed them when necessary.

Having to care for the two boisterous boys was exactly what the woman needed to feel like she was alive again. Although she felt a pang every now and then for not being able to care the same way for her son, she quickly forgot it in the face of the living chaos that were the D brothers.

She raised them both, feeding them, giving them shelter and even tried to teach them.

That had been quite a nightmare, what with Ace's tendency to fall asleep and Luffy's inability to sit still for anything but food. Makino frankly found it a miracle that she had managed to teach them to be literate in the first place.

It made her wonder if her child would've had any problems like her two surrogate sons did.

She stood protective over them when Shanks and his pirates visited the village, the memory of her husband's death still burned in her mind, but had quickly relented when the redheaded captain showed that he was not the typical villainous pirate that had raided their village.

She had calmed Ace when he found out that Shanks had 'let' Luffy eat a cursed Devil's Fruit - because no one hurt his little brother, not even Red-Hair Shanks - and had comforted Luffy after Shanks lost his arm.

And she had also waved goodbye to them when they each left the village to become pirates.

But now, what was this? Seeing the face of her true son and that of her surrogate one, Makino couldn't help but wonder if this was fate of some sort. After all, if things had been slightly different, the three would've grown up as playmates.

She smiled at the thought. What was her child like, she wondered. Was he like his father? Or did he have some of her personality as well? Was he good friends with the D brothers? Well, he had to be close to Luffy at least, to be his first mate.

So many questions came to mind, but the people she wanted to ask were not around to hear them. The people of the village didn't seem to recognize her son, and that was just as well. This was her little secret.

She looked up from the bounties and spotted the Mayor eyeing her from across the bar. His eyes flicked to what she was looking at, and then he smiled gently at her before giving her a wink. Makino giggled to herself.

Well, hers and the Mayor's secret, anyway.

Makino hung up the bounty poster for Roronoa Zoro next to the updated one for Luffy and Ace that night. And when the new bounties came out after that whole mess concerning Enies Lobby, Makino dutifully updated them all, and put up pictures of the whole Straw Hat crew as well.

If anyone noticed that the wanted posters for Roronoa Zoro, Monkey D. Luffy and Portgas D. Ace was just away from the others, as if clustered in their own group, they didn't comment. For Makino, they were in the perfect position for her to look at and be proud of her boys.

All of them.

_End._

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, Zoro is Makino's son. Or at least, that's my speculation in this fic. They both have green hair after all, even if Zoro's is light green and Makino's is really dark. This plotbunny came out of nowhere, really. Still, read and review, please.**


End file.
